“Stepping Into Your Story: Artmaking to Access Your Identity”

Workshop

with visual artist Cynthia Tom

Who are you? Why are you here and what for?

We provide an experiential workshop using intuitive artmaking techniques to access your inner stories in order to begin or continue your journey. In this workshop, using hands-on artmaking we begin to Explore, through discussion we learn how to Identify, and see how others Claim and use art to Proclaim their identity for healing and social change in the community. Our identity is forged by many seen and unseen forces. Take the time to discover, define and direct who you are with love and intention. While we can’t write your story in four hours, we can provide you with experiential and creative tools and next steps in defining and owning the power of You.

Sincerely,

Teresa Jade LeYung

Teresa Jade LeYung is an alumna of Cynthia Tom's class A PLACE OF HER OWN - photo by artist Reiko Fujii at 2018 artists' talks

Teresa Jade LeYung – founder of Love Made of Heart (aka Teresa LeYung-Ryan) speaks openly through her writing and advocacy, her immigrant experience, and her knowing Beauty. As an author, a story consultant, and a found-object artist, she empowers women to transform their own stories and is often quoted as saying: “You think beauty, You become Beauty.”

Once you sign up, I will be sending your own WP test site. This is your site to use for the class, and to practice on for 90 days.

This also includes some short videos, I will send you, showing you how to login and give you a bit of the basics, before the class.

Just some of what we will be covering will include: blogging, writing a good search engine optimized article, what is search engine optimization and why do you need it? What is the difference between a page and a post? Do I have to blog?

You will learn how to correctly add images and name them. All the parts of the dashboard and back end.

Even if you have been using your website, this is a great place to learn more and refresh what you already know.

After each section of the hands on presentation, we have a Q&A.

At the end of the training, Mary E. Knippel, a writing coach, former journalist and editor, will discuss with you:

writing posts, blogging, how to stay motivated, how to tap into your creative side and ongoing ideas for your website.

Sometimes we just run out of steam, and Mary will help you dig into that creative mind we all have.

To sign up for the hands on afternoon class and read more details, please click the link below.

I think about my mom often. October is a bittersweet month for me - it is the anniversary of my mother-daughter novel Love Made of Heart and Breast Cancer Awareness Month (my own mom died of metastasized breast cancer in 2000). This October (and every month) is cause for action for everyone who want to be involved in Gina L. Mulligan’s foundation Girls Love Mail and Gina’s beautiful gift book DEAR FRIEND: Letters of Encouragement, Humor and Love for Women with Breast Cancer (published by Chronicle Books).

In California . . . Remember the book festival staged at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco? And, there was the Oakland Literature Expo produced by Kim McMillon and the Sonoma County Book Festival!

This weekend June 3 and 4, 2017 in Berkeley, California is the Bay Area Book Festival!

Yours truly Teresa LeYung-Ryan has fond memories of the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (adventures with Elisa Sasa Southard) and the Arizona Book Festival (thank you to friends and book sellers in Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe)!

I am Teresa LeYung-Ryan, author of the mother-daughter novel Love Made of Heart and the “Talking to My Dead Mom Monologues” series. I use my literary works to encourage adult children of mentally ill parents to speak openly about the stigmas and find resources for their loved ones and for themselves.

Author & Playwright Teresa LeYung-Ryan Takes the BringChange2Mind Pledge to Stand Up Against the Stigma of Mental Illness

Bring Change 2 Mind Principles

- I understand that everyone is a valued person and deserves to be treated with respect.

- I will refrain from blame, shame, secrecy, social exclusion, stereotypes or discrimination.

- I will change the language I use when I talk about mental health and I will educate those who use stigmatizing language. I know that words matter.

- I will educate myself about the symptoms of mental illness and any side effects that may occur from treatment plans.

- I will use appropriate resources to work towards the stability of a loved one or myself.

- If I am feeling suicidal, I will reach out for help. If I know someone is experiencing suicidal thoughts, I will take it seriously and make every effort to ensure they get help.

- I will reduce stigma in myself and in others by being open about living with mental illness, naming it out loud and raising people’s awareness.

- I will help change the way people view mental health. I will make a difference.

If you or someone you know needs immediate help, please call the Crisis Hotline: 800.273.TALK (8255)

In San Mateo, California, Stamp Out Stigma Director Carmen Lee says:

“Welcome to Stamp Out Stigma, a community advocacy and educational outreach program dedicated to eradicating the stigma associated with mental illness. Stamp Out Stigma is unique in its anti-stigma approach, by creating a forum in which individuals with mental illness share their personal experiences with the community at large.” http://www.stampoutstigma.net

California Writers Club – Tri-Valley Branch in Pleasanton, California

Saturday, June 21, 2014, 2:00-4:00 p.m. (registration at 1:30)

The cost for CWC Members is $10, nonmembers, $15. Anyone interested in the program or the organization may attend with no obligation to join.

Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan will show you how to thrive in the publishing arena whether you are the publisher or you’ve sold rights to a third-party publisher. She says: “Reach out, not stress out! By making your name stand for something—to attract targeted consumers (your fans)—who are likely to buy what you have to sell. Learn how to help your fans find you, before and after publication!”

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary . . . Memorial Day : the last Monday in May that is a national holiday in the U.S. honoring members of the armed forces who died in wars. Originally held (1868) in commemoration of soldiers killed in the American Civil War, its observance later extended to all U.S. war dead.

Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan applauds writers and readers for honoring peace and Memorial Day every day and every way. Thank you, everyone!

Join the Fisher Children’s Center, the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, and the Women’s National Book Association/San Francisco Chapter, as they present special guest lecturer, award-winning author and illustrator Yuyi Morales, who will deliver the 18th annual Effie Lee Morris Lecture in Children’s Literature. The theme of Yuyi Morales’s talk will be “Creating Children’s Books: An Immigrant’s Story”

As a Spanish-speaking immigrant and new mother who migrated to the U.S. from Mexico, Yuyi struggled with English and adapting to a new home. She found support in neighborhood libraries, where she and her son practiced English by reading children’s books. There she found her life passion writing and illustrating children’s stories, such as Just a Minute; A Trickster Tale and Counting Book; Little Night / Nochecita; Just in Case, and the 2013 Niño Wrestles the World. She isthe first children’s book illustrator of Mexican descent to reach the New York Times Best Sellers List.

This year the Women’s National Book Association, San Francisco Chapter, sponsored a Book Drive to benefit the Living Room, Santa Rosa, CA - a daytime drop-in center that provides a safe haven to ease the adversity of homelessness for women. In January 2014, WNBA-SF launched an early literacy activity at the Living Room, using donated books for picture book storytelling—part of the Living Room’s Mother and Child program. Cheers to WNBA fellow-members!

June 7-14, 2014Meet California Writers Club members and have fun at the San Mateo County Fair’s Literary Arts Stage (in Fine Arts Galleria) created by Bardi Rosman Koodrin and Boris Koodrin. Cheers to CWC fellow-members! Events on Literary Arts Stage are free and open to the public; fees to enter the fair; June 10 Seniors n for free; parking fee is separate.

Project Read San Francisco

Through Project Read, the adult literacy program of the San Francisco Public Library, professionally trained volunteer tutors provide free one-on-one tutoring to English-speaking adults who want to improve their basic reading and writing skills. Activities for enrolled adult learners with young children are offered through the Project Read Families for Literacy Program.

Also at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library – The Daniel E. Koshland San Francisco History Center

This tremendous resource contains a research collection of books, newspapers and magazines, photographs, maps, posters, archives and manuscript collections, and ephemera, documenting all aspects of San Francisco life and history. The Center is also the archives for the City and County of San Francisco.

Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here to wish all writers time to write, read, and support other writers.

I wrote a review for author Mary B. French. She had sent me the link to her YouTube and Amazon pages.

Teaching Children How to be a Good Friend, Go after Their Dreams, and Love Themselves

Mary B. French‘s children’s book about Compass (a teddy bear who has special talents) and his human friend Molly (whose parents are separated) teaches readers (young and old) how to be a good friend, go after our dreams, and love ourselves. Also, I learned a few things about English customs, and, how one would go about meeting the Queen. A sweet story!
Cheers to the author of Bear-ly There With Compass and all the protagonists in the story!
Sincerely, 22-day writing and fanbase-building coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan

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I am reading entries to “Immigrant Experience Writing Contest” which I am sponsoring for the San Mateo County Fair Literary Arts Division and California Writers Club SF Peninsula Branch. Thank you, Bardi Rosman Koodrin, CWC, and everyone who support the many writing contests. Thank you, Professor Sheryl Fairchild, for being co-judge to the contest I’m sponsoring. Bravo to all contestants, for polishing your pieces and submitting to the various contests.

Advice to writers who will be entering their works to any writing contest: follow guidelines to increase your chance of receiving an award. If the contest’s theme is battling mental illness, write about that; if the contest’s theme is about adopting a pet, write about that.

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Last performance The Year of Magical Thinking will be Sunday April 27, 2014.

Authors Mary E. Knippel, Lynn Scott and I are going to see the play The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (based on her memoir of the same title), directed by Craig A. Miller, starring Grace Kingsley. Thank you, director Lennie Dean, for emailing this message:

SPRING ARTS FAIR — Art show, live music, and refreshments. Free and open to all!

Sunday, May 4, 2014, 3:00-6:00pm

(readings are from 4:00-5:00pm)

at

Congregation Beth Sholom

1301 14th Avenue (near Clement), San Francisco, CA

Pamela Reitman says: ”I am honored to be one of several readers. My current project is based on the life of Charlotte Salomon, who created Life?or Theater?, according to University of Leeds art critic and professor Griselda Pollock, “one of the twentieth century’s most challenging art works.” Charlotte Salomon was a German-Jewish artist in hiding in the South of France, who struggled with the tragic legacy of multiple suicides in her family, to complete a monument to her life in paintings in a race against time before captured by the Nazis. Hope to see you there!” www.pamelareitman.com

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Co-Creators of San Francisco Writers Conference Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen announce that they will be at Book Expo Americahttp://www.bookexpoamerica.com/Show-Info/Event-At-A-Glance-Hours/ Wednesday, May 28 – Saturday, May 31, 2014 at the Javits Center, NYC. And, tell your writer-friends about San Francisco Writers Conference February 12-15, 2015 http://www.sfwriters.org/Thank you, Elizabeth and Michael, for inviting me to present every year at your fabulous writers’ conference.

This contest is to honor immigrants who triumph over stigmas and injustice. Your entry could be a firsthand account or a retelling of someone else’s experience. Please study your genre by rereading your favorite authors’ works. Show what your protagonist wants; use authentic details; foreshadow core themes.

” The Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Oakland, California, is an important, life-affirming, and supportive organization for women with cancer and their friends and families. I’m very happy to be participating in my fifth Swim-a-Mile to raise funds for their important work.

WCRC can certainly use our support to help them continue to provide the services (and yes, support) they do for women facing serious health challenges.

My swim honors my friends, family, friends of family (and family of friends!) — way too many of them, unfortunately — who have faced cancer, as well as those who provide care, support, and resources to people with cancer. If you’d like me to add the name of someone you’d like to honor to the Honor Wall at the swim, I’d be happy to do so.

All contributions are tax deductible; if your workplace matches charitable contributions, please forward me the necessary paperwork to match your gift and I’ll send it on to the staff at WCRC.

Thank you for helping me to help WCRC by sponsoring my swim! ”

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/suzanne-corson/4/7b/8a8

Writing Coach Teresa LeYung-Ryan here . . .

I know Suzanne Corson as the kind bookstore owner of Boadecia’s Books which was a welcoming place for the community. Suzanne is a Managing Editor, Email Marketing Manager, Newsletter Project Manager, Freelance Editor, and a Community Heart.